How Chelsea Handler’s Bathroom Humor Got Her in Trouble With Her Comcast Bosses

Chelsea Handler went too far for a laugh on her E! show, earning the wrath of her bosses at Comcast, the New York Post reports.

Handler targeted the “Today” show’s Al Roker — whose bowel problems have been in the headlines lately — and dragged “Today’s” Matt Lauer into the mud while she was at it.

“Roker recently confessed to ‘Dateline’ that he once ‘pooped’ his pants at the White House, and news of the accident, ahem, exploded online,” the Post reports. “Handler responded with a zinger on her E! show, ‘Chelsea Lately,’ saying, ‘This isn’t the first time a “Today” show cast member was in the news about this sensitive subject. For years it was common knowledge that Matt Lauer spent every morning [s----ing] all over Ann Curry.’”

The piece notes that the joke did not go over well with Handler’s bosses at Comcast, which owns both NBC and E!.

A source close to Handler’s show is quoted as saying: “Chelsea’s writers were warned to lay off Matt. They don’t want them making more fun of Matt and the Ann Curry situation right now.”

Lauer has been subject to public scorn since Curry was kicked off “Today,” the piece notes. And Handler has a history of difficult relations with the “Today” show.

“In November, the comedienne canceled an appearance on ‘Today’ by calling in hours before she was supposed to be on the show, due to what her rep told us was ‘food poisoning,’” the story reports. “But Handler said on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ later the same day, ‘That was a lie. I wasn’t sick,’ and she apologized while getting in a swipe at ‘Today’ hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, by calling them ‘Hoda Kota-ba and Kathie Lee Jifford.’”

A spokesman for E! denied the report, according to the Post. The spokesman reportedly said of the warning to lay off Lauer: “This is absolutely false, and no such request was made.”

One Comment

Everyone needs to grow up. She is a comic. They tell jokes. And these were funny. Look at how Lena Dunham handled Howard Stern. That is how to deal with these things. Matt should learn how to take a joke.